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September 5, 2023

Top Stories

Research

Tom Still: Climate change heats up interest in nuclear energy

Wisconsin State Journal

For example, SHINE Technologies in Janesville is looking to use fusion to recycle fissile material from reactors, past and future. Company founder Greg Piefer said climate change can’t wait to be solved by fusion energy, but safe fission energy is possible now. The nuclear engineering programs at UW-Madison are also a part of that research mix.

Higher Education/System

Campus life

Memorial Union hosts Terrace Paintacular

WKOW-TV 27

UW-Madison is welcoming students back to campus with a series of events — one of them is quite colorful. As part of Monday’s Terrace Takeover, Wheelhouse Studios hosted a Paintacular. They call it Madison’s largest free group paint event. Wheelhouse offered a free canvas and water colors to anyone who was interested.

Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation announces record $1 million gift to the Odyssey Future Fund as a challenge match

Madison365

The UW Odyssey Project takes a whole family approach to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through access to education, giving adult and youth learners a voice, and increasing confidence through reading, writing, and speaking. The Odyssey Project was co-founded in 2003 by Emily Auerbach, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Crime and safety

MPD: Investigation on Attack in Downtown Madison

WKOW-TV 27

The Madison Police Department (MPD) is investigating a “brutal” attack that happened around 3:20 Sunday morning on the 500 block of W. Wilson Street. Police Chief Shon Barnes said in a press conference Saturday the female victim was transported to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Video Shows Pier Collapsing, Plunging Dozens of Students Into Water

Newsweek

Footage of the pier collapse was captured on camera by a bystander as up to 80 students and debris from the broken structure were suddenly swallowed by the water. One victim was hospitalized and others suffered scrapes and bruises during the incident at the Memorial Union Terrace. It is part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, on Lake Mendota.

Community

New Madison Justice Team aims to help transition from jail, prison

The Capital Times

Since then, the all-volunteer organization has grown to include more than 80 people with representatives from more than 30 local organizations, from the Black Men Coalition of Dane County, to the Christ Presbyterian Church, to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Odyssey Project, which provides low-income and formerly incarcerated adults access to accredited English courses.

Health

How hospitals can help patients prep for appointments

STAT

Working on question lists does not require a trained coach, however. A family member or friend can be a helpful guide to preparing for a visit, as the process of making a question list can decrease worry and increase a patient’s sense of control. In fact, there are various methods to brainstorm, clarify, and organize a question list, and anyone can find frameworks to navigate their medical decisions, including the Ottawa decision guides, the University of Wisconsin Surgery’s Best Case/Worst Case framework, or our own pre-appointment question list.

Athletics

UW Experts in the News

Five billion people will face extreme heat at least a month each year by 2050

Washington Post

Experts consulted on the strengths and limitations of the WBGT metric and the physiological impacts of different levels of heat include Zac Schlader (Indiana University at Bloomington), W. Larry Kenney and Daniel Vecellio (Pennsylvania State University), Jonathan Patz (University of Wisconsin at Madison), George Havenith (Loughborough University, U.K.) and Jason Lee (National University of Singapore).

Obituaries

Severa Austin

Wisconsin State Journal

She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia; a bureau director for Wisconsin’s Department of Health and Human Services; the executive director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin; and a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, sharing with a new generation of social workers her passion for public policy.

Carolyn Francis Hackler

Wisconsin State Journal

She worked for UW Madison for many years, including in the History of Medicine Department and as the administrative assistant to the dean of the School of Education. She retired in 1999.

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